Words for the Wounded Independent Author Book Award Part 3

Posted on June 20, 2015 by Margaret Graham

Over the last two weeks we’ve highlighted First and Second Place in the recent WforW Independent Author Book Award. Today we have the final winner, Eric Sinclair who achieved Third Place.

As I keep saying to people, The Independent Author Book Award has been a revelation. There are just so many good writers out there, which made our task hugely enjoyable, if difficult. At last we decided on those who were to be commended, highly commended, and then – the winners. In the end, our decision was unanimous. Great books all of them. Thank you all so much for entering – rest assured that 100% of the entry fees go to the wounded.

Thank you, Palamedes PR for sponsoring a professional press release for the winner, and the opportunity of a discounted press release for 2^nd and 3^rd. Thank you Frost Magazine for publishing a review of the top three

The great good news is that Felicity Trew, of the highly respected Caroline Sheldon Literary Agency, is now representing the winner, Jane Cable.

Felicity Trew will also be our final judge for the 2015 Independent Author Book Award. The excitement is immense.

3^rd place

Man, Dog, Stroke by Eric Sinclair

This is the story of one man’s experience of the devastating effects of a major stroke, and his attempts to recover from it. It is also the story of a dog’s experience of life with unpredictable, irrational human beings.

Judges’ comments: Man, Dog, Stroke is a beautifully written and moving memoir of a stroke victim, with a chapter from time to time from his whippet’s point of view. This is a whippet who sees life, and events, from his side ‘of the pond’ and is a fantastic idea.

We laughed out loud, held our breath, and longed for Eric Sinclair to survive, and to thrive. Man, Dog, Stroke brought out the isolation experienced by stroke victims, the powerlessness when their lives are changed in just a few seconds, in of all things, a strange hotel room. The fear, the long fight back. ‘…The trouble was I didn’t seem able to move my legs or arms at all. With growing fright and disbelief I tried to roll over.’

It made us understand what a patient needs, and how absolutely crucial is good post stroke therapy.

It could happen to any of us. Read this. Laugh, and learn. It’s beautifully written.

Proceeds from the book will be donated to The Stroke Association.

Biog.

Eric Sinclair is a writer and education consultant living in Aberdeenshire who has worked in schools and colleges in West Africa, Turkey and Germany, as well as the UK. For ten years he was Head Teacher of Kirkwall Grammar School in Orkney, and subsequently was Head of Aboyne Academy, Aberdeenshire, before setting up his own education consultancy and training business in 2000. He was a part-time selector with the Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) Assessment Team in London from 1989 – 2004.

Since suffering a major stroke in 2004, he has undertaken voluntary work for the Stroke Association, and is vice-chair of their Scotland Committee. In December 2011, he published – Man, Dog, Stroke – describing his experience of recovering from stroke in Oslo and Aberdeen. The sequel to this book is a blog of the same name. He has also published a number of articles in The Scottish Review.

Eric has been a public partner with NHS Healthcare Improvement Scotland and has extensive experience of managing change in a variety of settings, as well as the lived experience of dealing with a chronic health condition. In January 2015, he was appointed by the Scottish Government to the Board of NHS Grampian, which provides health and social care for Aberdeen and the north-east of Scotland.

Eric relaxes by walking and communing with his whippet, Archie, and by singing in a local choir.

Words for the Wounded Independent Author Book Award Part 2

Posted on June 13, 2015 by Margaret Graham

As I said last week, The Independent Author Book Award has been a revelation. There are just so many good writers out there, which made our task hugely enjoyable, if difficult. At last we decided on commended, highly commended, and then – the winners. In the end, our decision was unanimous. Great books all three of them. Thank you all so much for entering – rest assured that 100% of the entry fees go to the wounded.

Last week we highlighted First Place achieved by Jane Cable with The Cheesemaker’s House, in the recent competition. Today we have the second place winner, Janet O’Kane.

The great good news is that Felicity Trew, of the highly respected Caroline Sheldon Literary Agency, is now representing the winner, Jane Cable.

We’re totally delighted to reveal that Felicity Trew will also be our final judge for the 2015 Independent Author Book Award. The WforW team is so excited.

2^nd Place.

No Stranger to Death by Janet O’Kane

Zoe Moreland is a GP who stumbles upon a corpse. Set in the Scottish Borders, her own life experience is revealed, alongside the unfolding crime story.

No Stranger to Death Janet O’Kane

Judges’ comments. A crime novel must grab you from the first sentence. This one does: “Zoe Moreland saw her first dead body at the age of twelve … “ You also need a reason for the person to be consulted or somehow involved with a dead body, especially if you want to keep open the possibility of a series. Tick number two: she’s a GP. This sets everything up well for a crime novel and the other necessities for any novel, including interesting setting described with a vivid sense of place (the Scottish Borders) and rounded characters with distinctive personalities and back stories which appear gradually, are all here. Tick, tick, tick. We particularly liked the way Janet O’Kane lets facts and personalities emerge naturally, by incremental details rather than through the dreaded information download. She credits the reader with the ability to put details together. This crime novel has a well-constructed plot with interesting characters and we look forward to reading the next one in the series. Well done.

When Janet O’Kane outgrew Enid Blyton’s books she moved on to what her Mum liked reading: crime novels. And despite occasional dalliances with other types of fiction, that’s where she has happily stayed.

Her career before turning to writing full-time included selling underpants to Roger Moore in Harrods of Knightsbridge and marketing nappies for Boots the Chemist. It was when she helped run a GP surgery that she decided a doctor would make an excellent main character for a series of crime novels.

Janet lives in the Scottish Borders with her stonemason husband, a cat, two dogs and far too many chickens. She is now writing the sequel to No Stranger to Death and learning to tap-dance. She’s delighted to have been placed second in a competition which raises money for such a good cause.

Words for the Wounded Independent Author Book Award By WforW Founder Margaret Graham

Posted on June 6, 2015 by Margaret Graham

The Independent Author Book Award has been a revelation. There are just so many good writers out there, which made our task hugely enjoyable, if difficult. At last we decided on commended, highly commended, and then – the three winners. In the end, our decision was unanimous. Great books all three winners. Thank you all so much for entering – rest assured that 100% of the entry fees go to the wounded.

Roll of drums for the list of winners, highly commended and commended.

1^st The Cheesemaker’s House. Jane Cable

2^nd No Stranger to Death Janet O’Kane

3^rd Man, Dog, Stroke Eric Sinclair

Highly Commended

Alphabetical order

The Grown-ups Wouldn’t Like it. Diane Kay

Callum Fox and the Mousehole Ghost. A. C. Hatter

Commended

Alphabetical order

The Roman Citizens from Class 6B Kevin Brooke

Run fast, keep low Eleanor Broaders

Ruby’s New Coat Jane Carling

Chasing the Dark Clouds Courtney Hulbert (Guy Mortenson)

Brandy Row Shelagh Mazey

Orange Juice and Codliver Oil. Peter Morley

Pegasus to Paradise Michael Tappenden

The Unorthodox Arrival of Pumplin Allan Susie Twine

The Labyrinth Year Clare Weiner

The great good news is that Felicity Trew, of the highly respected Caroline Sheldon Literary Agency, is now representing the winner, Jane Cable.

Also we are honoured to announce that Felicity Trew will be our final judge for the 2015 Independent Author Book Award.

Let’s have a closer look at our winner, Jane Cable, with The Cheesemakers’ House that achieved First Place in the inaugural WforW Independent Author Book Award. Congratulations!

First Place: The Cheesemaker’s House by Jane Cable.

Alice Hart’s husband runs off with his secretary, she runs off with his dog to lick

her wounds in a North Yorkshire village. Soon she decides to start renovating the barn next to her house and opens a whole can o’ worms.

Judges’ comments: The Cheesemakers’ House by Jane Cable was the only possible winner. The clarity, structure and story line was immediately inviting, the characters interesting. They weave, twist and develop towards the denouement, always keeping us with them. Cable is adept at peeling back the layers; the writing is snappy, the tension implicit. She holds back, and you have to keep turning the pages unable to work things out until she wants you too.

There is a paranormal flicker, which can be clumsy, but in this case we found it believable, and in keeping with the book. Alice is the main character, a survivor of a marital breakup, but unembittered. Owen is the secondary character and is complicated; infuriating, almost fey. All this set against a rural village setting, which Cable ‘gets’ perfectly.

The Cheesemaker’s House is Jane Cables’ first published novel, but it is the work of an experienced writer. Has she many discarded novels in a drawer? Or has she worked with writing groups and really learned her craft? We do wish this is the case with more writers, because until clarity, organization and structure is achieved, fiction won’t work. It is only then that characters haul you into their world.

Jane Cable’s biog.

I have lost count of the number of stories I have started over the years but my first breakthrough came when I actually finished one. It was a romance about cricket and completely unpublishable. But it made me a much better writer. A few more followed, before I started The Cheesemaker’s House. I changed to writing in the first person and it felt different – it felt as though I had found my voice.

In May 2011 The Alan Titchmarsh Show announced a competition to find a new author – a People’s Novelist – and my mother persuaded me to enter The Cheesemaker’s House. I did and was shortlisted, and then made it through to the final. Though I didn’t win, it gave me confidence.

Mainstream publishing was becoming so risk-averse it was harder than ever to get a contract unless you were already famous and this was making many very talented writers go it alone. I had already come across Matador at a self publishing conference organised by The Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook. I like them because they are selective about the books they take and very, very professional.

The Cheesemaker’s House was really well received by book bloggers and readers and at the time of writing has sold around a 1,000 copies. I am absolutely thrilled to have won the Words for the Wounded Independent Author Book Award (such a good cause) and a professional press release from Palamedes, and publicity in Frost Magazine. My next novel, The Faerie Tree is now finished. Life is good.

Words For The Wounded Writing Prize Closes On 11 March

Posted on January 26, 2015 by Margaret Graham

Words for the Wounded writing prize closes on 11 March. Why on earth do three grannies (two shown above) throw themselves out of a plane, strapped to a fit young man, hoping their parachutes open? Well, OK, the fit young man is a bit of a clue. But seriously, why? The reasons lie in the past and the present. In the past, both my grandfathers survived the first world war, so just as there were thankful villages who had lost no men, so too there were thankful families. But life isn’t that simple, is it? Gentle Percy, my mother’s father survived but took his own life in 1923. War has long, relentless tentacles which reach out and destroy families, just as surely as bullets do. Then, about four years ago I met a young man and his wife. They were both under twenty five. She was pushing him in his wheelchair; his portable ventilator lay on his chest. He’d been shot through the neck in Helmand and is tetraplegic, (paralysed from the neck down). They were both smiling and cheerful but their hopes and dreams were very different now, and everyday life was a mountain in itself. I decided that, as writers, my two granny friends and I could help not just the wounded, but also aspiring writers. We founded Words for the Wounded and were enormously lucky in our patrons, amongst whom are Julian Fellowes, Louis de Berniers, Katie Fforde, Paddy Ashdown and many others. We decided also that we would earn our donations, not just appeal to the generosity of others; hence the skydive, and hence the Mud Challenge Obstacle Course in August, and hence the LitFest to be held at High Wycombe on 18^th April 2015 with Katie Fforde and two Midsomer Murders writers amongst others. Our main thread, however, is our writing prizes. We have the short category for poetry/fiction/memoir – up to 400 words, with prize money of £400. Entry fee £4.50 This year we are launching The Independent Author Book Award for fiction or memoir, with a 1^st prize of a Palamedes PR professional press release. And a biography and review in Frost Magazine. Entry fee £12.50 The WforW grannies absorb ALL the costs themselves, so every penny raised goes to the wounded. Our troops put their lives on the line for us, some are killed, many, many, more sustain life-changing injuries. To help them is the aim of Words for the Wounded. They deserve the best.

For more information: www.wordsforthewounded.co.uk

Times Have Changed, But The Need Remains By Jan Speedie

Posted on November 11, 2014 by Margaret Graham

As one of the tiny team of grannies who run Words for the Wounded (well, tiny in number, if not in shape – we do like our cakes) I thought it apt to take along a grandchild to explore the ARMY MEDICAL SERVICES MUSEUM set within Keogh Barracks, Ash Vale, Aldershot. GU12 5 RO. It is after all the commemorative year of the start of the 1^st World War and very much in many of our minds. The young are always up for some leeches, a bit of gore, and history brought to life, and this museum very much ticked the box. It is a small museum but beautifully formed and tells the story of the Army’s medical services from the Civil War to present day, not just for humans but their animals as well. Once inside the Museum we were faced with a tableau showing a scene from the civil war and some of the crude instruments used – it really makes you appreciate our modern NHS. As you walk through the well laid out displays we realised how medical practices have had to change to cope with modern warfare. From long impractical uniforms, to fit for purpose ‘ no messing’ togs. No more lethal looking knives, dirty bandages or leeches just well equipped medics and field hospitals. Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps. (QARANC) When we think of army nurses you probably think of Florence Nightingale going out to the Crimea to superintend the running of Scutari; her work is still remembered today. On display are the uniforms the nurses wore with their starched aprons and cap no ‘scrubs’ for them. Margaret Graham, our WforW founder, was telling me of her mother’s exploits as an army nurse in WW2 after she was posted to India. It was after that war that the Army Medical Services underwent reorganisation. In 1949 the QARANC was formed but the culture remained the same, a selfless sense of duty as they care for the sick and wounded troops worldwide The final displays bring you right up to the present day and the troops serving in Afghanistan.

Royal Army Veterinary Corp. (RAVC) Due to the growing mechanisation of the army the RAVC is one of the smallest Corps but one which provides an invaluable service for animals in their care. It was sad to discover the terrible treatment injured horses, mules and dogs received especially during the Crimea and Boer Wars. Slowly it was realised a proper veterinary service was needed for these valued animals and by the end of WW1 things were very different. A tableau also shows the heroic work of tracker dogs sniffing out insurgents, explosives and injured personnel. So, today, there are no leeches, but instead high-tech kind efficient care, recuperation and rehabilitation. If you’re in the area of Aldershot, do check the Army Medical Services Museum. www.ams-museum.org.uk/museum/ Rehabilitation and recovery is where Words for the Wounded comes in, along with many other hard working charities, especially as our troops return from Afghanistan and the work of charities such as ours is needed more than ever. www.wordsforthewounded.co.uk WforW raises money through writing prizes, so that, as well as raising money for our wounded service personnel, we create opportunities for aspiring writers. This year we have our usual short competition of up to 400 words of fiction/poetry/memoir with cash prizes for the top three, and publication in Writers’ Forum Magazine. www.writers-forum.com In addition we are launching the Independent Author Book Award for self-published fiction or memoir. The top prize is a professional press release from Palamedes PR www.palamedes.co.uk And a review in the fabulous Frost Magazine. 2^nd and 3^rd place have the opportunity of a discounted press release and Frost Magazine will also review their books. We open for entries from 11 November 2014 to 11^th March 2015 and you can find all the information on www.wordsforthewounded.co.uk and more news and chat on www.wordsforthewounded.blogspot.co.uk

Frost Magazine

Books and Lifestyle

Tag Archives: Palamedes PR

Words for the Wounded Independent Author Book Award Part 3

Words for the Wounded Independent Author Book Award Part 2

Words for the Wounded Independent Author Book Award By WforW Founder Margaret Graham

Words For The Wounded Writing Prize Closes On 11 March

Times Have Changed, But The Need Remains By Jan Speedie

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